Central Casting Returns (more or less)

Jan Wunsch's chain making class was cancelled, so we get to use the space at our usual time. We are scheduled a little later than before, The room is being used for summer art camp. Kids make jewelry-like things with glass beads and glitter. During class, Masha dropped a tiny peridot cabochon and a prefabricated bezel (actually it was my fault.) I spent about fifteen minutes sweeping and sifting through a dustpan full of grey filth and small worthless shiny things. Eventually I spotted the peridot on the floor after all the other junk was cleared away. I also found an oval cabochon of chrysophase, another pale green stone.

Gloria was there sprueing up a pair of her signature hibiscus rings. She was on a deadline for both of them, so she asked me to mix the investment. She put the flasks in the kiln at some time after seven, and she was done by nine thirty. I think the flasks were still red when she put them in the centifugal armature. The silver came out with with a golden hue because of the hot investment.

I guess working in a commercial kitchen has its benefits; I can mix the necessary amount of investment by feel. It saves time and there is little waste. Usually people spend time measuring the volume of water required for the flask they are using and they weighing the investment needed for that volume of water. This always results in wasted investment because it fails to compensate for the mass of the wax model. I guess that there should be a conversion ration for converting the wax weight to volume, and then subtracting that from the water volume. The investment to water ratio should remain the same. Another problem is that every one seems to throw some extra powder in to make it harden faster. This results in wasted investment and a grainy texture on the metal.

W. was there to cast despite the fact that he now has a full set-up for casting at home. He bought all the equipment new from Rio Grande. His work is difficult to describe. He uses organic materials, (leaves flowers figs and the occasional mummified gecko,) to construct winged bell like forms which are cast in 24k gold and set with topaz, rubies,amethyst and pearls.
Martin is the one person about whom I worry the most.
He had considerable difficulty getting too his car last night. Sam, the Courtesy Guard had to help him. I missed what happened, but it seems that he nearly fell, and had difficulty moving his left leg. The guy is pretty stubborn. He is a retired engineer who used to work at a cosmic radiation lab in Patchogue NY. It's been thirty years since I was anywhere near the place but it still feels like it's a small world.

Death Clock

I expect to check out on "Tuesday, June 17, 2036 "
When will you Die?

"Apparently, it is a gigantic octopus or squid"

Chilean blob could be octopus: I really wish that i could say more about this story. Another BBC article reports a better preserved giant squid found in Antarctica.

Hot Snacks: A Dream

I dreamt that I was part of a scheme to get eastern European guys off of the street. A lot of them were arriving at regular intervals and either they would stumble through the shelters expecting an uplift mission or they 'd get involved in some petty crime thing. Guy from their own country that could speak their language and relate to what they were going through would talk them in and get them involved with the mob; the promise of big money.
We worked with the police because so many of these guys were either homeless or they had committed some misdemeanor like sleeping in a doorway.
We had some guys that knew the way organized crime gets its hooks into guys like that; the secrecy, promise of a better life opportunity even the hint of easy money and honor. But it's not easy work we would tell them. There is a price to pay. Some people would look down on them. They'd have to get their hands dirty.
so we'd pick these guys up just after they were processed or while they were in line aty the shelter you could spot them right away. The old world coats stood out and the way they hunched over in shame not like the proud perps who expected to walk away scot free or the usual 'gimmies' that waited for a hand out.
The ski masks were definitely a part of it. The drivers usually wore them. Hey, it was fucking cold at night. I don't know what's going on with the weather but it seems like every winter it gets colder. We had no heat in those vans mostly bread delivery trucks with benches put in. We made the masks ourselves, they were cut out of stretchy Lycra type material that skiers wore. They were shiny blue of green material meant to be tight and streamline the body but after we cut the eyeholes and the mouth and stitched the seams with thick black upholstery thread they looked kind of brutal. There was usually some one getting fitted when we brought some new guys in mostly knots of five to ten. The place we used was a old store front like it used to be a kitchen or a bakery.
Then we would show them the stuffed zucchini and baked squash. The cheapest vegetables you could buy, but with a little cheese or a spoonful of sausage they made a decent hot snack. We could set them up with a cart with some canned heat and they could make enough cash to buy some new shoes or fix up their cart and go into business for them selves. Guess that's why the cops were involved: they should have had permits for selling food on the street. It was cold but not so cold you had to wear a ski mask. But if you had one, they knew you were one of our guys.

---

The eastern european guys came from an old episode of "Crossing Jordan," which was playing in the background While I read an encyclopedia entry about the first Zen patriarch, BodhiDharma. The Ski mask came from a photo of my Uncle Jim and Grandfather Allen. And Masha told me that she had thrown away, "something that might have been a cucumber," which she found in the refrigerator. That would have been the zuchinni. I ate the other one fried with sesame oil and an excess of minced garlic.
A good friend of mine spoke to me recently about the immenant eviction of her parents from their condo. Her two doctor brothers refused to help them out with the annual maintenance fee. My friend is on a disability income with Lupus and possibly MS. Her husband is appealling the denial of his disability and awaiting a liver transplant. His liver seems to have failed under the ravages of Hepatitis and the interferon used to treat it. Sadly he contracted the disease while working as a nurse. My friends parents had paid for them to live in a nice appartment and a cleaning service, as they realized that she could barely care for herself. with her brothers managing family affairsshe will have to find a smaller appartment. She fears that she may become homeless. She was frantic the last time that I spoke with her. She had not slept in three days. She seemed relived when I shifted the subject to string theory and Stephen Hawking's cosmology which both interest her greatly.She fell asleep while I prattled on about tiny nothings vibrating in a formless void.

Strong Language

A fine article from Dervala, on clear succinct writing.
She offers some links to good references on writing, and the string of comments is also worth the read.

Sylvie Gallet knows how to design beautiful fractals. you will want a version of fractint to recreate them.

>mappage

I've been trying to collect some addresses which kind of list the different places where I've lived. There is one page hosted on earthlink at [mappage] and another copy saved locally. an account with My Google Maps? serves an iFrame with some of the addresses plotted on it. I'm permitted 10 plot points per map with little flags that pop up with relevant info. In theory I can use 10 maps with one account yielding up to a hundred locations. so far I’ve created two maps in the account.
My strategy has been to list addresses in the side bar with links to the corresponding Google Maps query results at their website. In the center of the page is the My Google Maps? account with all the locations plotted on it.

Ghost of my formal self: 1988

I like this no matter how tattered the old thing is. reminds me of when i used to actually draw.

just sitting

green and spiny

We Like The Moon - the Spongmonkeys try and cash in on the kittens' success - By Joel Veitch rathergood.com, song by Joel and Alex Veitch

This could be irritating

Summer Moon Illusion

The Cereus Vines Have been blooming the past three nights.
Flowers as big as my head.
No Camera.

As/Is

Poetry

Script Kiddie Brain storm

Practical idiot?

I’ve Noticed that some of the user scripts that I installed with Grease Monkey? have an effect on this Wiki Site?. Probably because it is served. for example one script loads an IFrame at the top of the page. This doesn't happen with other pages that are local on the C: drive. I'll have to try it with other Mini Servers?.

This suggests that it might be possible to affect Tiddly Wiki? with a user script, or even GM user scripts for HTML docs that reside on the hard drive.
how about a script that adds a menubar to certain pages in a local directory.

father and son

Allen Ward With A mysterious stranger

no place

Like C. S. Lewis' "The Shoddy Lands," it all seems sort of vauge.

Twines entangled over another green world. Fighting for the Orb I's'pose.

2005.06.09: Impeach Bush Now!

And Keep Our Minds Off Important Stuff, Like Who Will Replace Him.

Dark Isle

I'm uncertain about the sky. Ominous but artificial. The far shore across the lake seems indistinct. I cant imagine a good reason to row out to this promontory. Desolate. There must be something there. I'll wait for better light. There is no zhine from the water.

No Downing Street Memo

Another LPC photo.Sweetie on her out door perch. "Where's the Mango?"

A SONG ON THE END OF THE WORLD

On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be."

see the Sunlight

..yes I said yes I Will Yes

What Parallel Courses Did Bloom and Stephen follow Re-turning?

Relativity.

That was the point of the whole question.

Debatable.

Not much reason for reading the whole thing anyhow. If you know how it
ends.

A day in Dublin One hundred and one years ago.

Celebrate?

Happy Birthdate.

in memoriam

Lelani Page Carter took this Photo Of me with my twelve year old iguana, "Sweetie," who died a year ago.

The Phenomenon of Others

I haven't thought of Joyce Carol Oates in a while, much less read one of her books. "Son of the Morning," was the title of one which I read in college. I thought it was far more terrifying than Stephen King's horror classics. Oates is nearly as prolific a writer as King. And her criticism is usually compelling and insightful..
[Whereas Kin Wilt elly uo."Work Hard and Be Succinct."]

I was Married In Lewiston /Auburn Maine and My wife saidthat She and Kings Children Went to the same School.
She said That they smelled 'Strange.' But then she had an extrordinary nose.
Imagine an infants nose and mouth pressed against her breast. That Lewiston girl. The artist; she painted her Baby Blue.
The Red Hair Of Whom? and the Skin Of Suffocation.
I thought we were the same , dear reader,
You and I.
But nothing
Between us
Lies

--see whiskey river
Bitter--Much

Son of Morning

I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things which have
been kept secret from the
foundation of the world.
—Matthew, 13:35

Great detail! Terragen is cool!

Denali Range

from Google maps--Geotaggers.

Sphere and Vine: Helical reflections

TROPICAL STORM YOU SAY?

We All Need to Read This:

: "H.R.550
Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005 (Introduced in House)"

Dream Post

This morning, I had two dreams.
One had something to do with teaching people how to use the RUBY overscript markup in HTML: (not the programming language.)
We were trying to teach people how to use it to ad some kind of identifying marks to their writing. The results seemed to have more to do with foot notes, tool tips and popups but the thinking was all about RUBY.
For some reason, my adoptive mother was in the dream.. She was an academic anthropologist. This might make some sense because RUBY is ideal for adding hiragana pronunciation to kangi words in Japanese.
Dr. Wheeler was explaining why the technology might not work for some people.
The other dream also had something to do with the web. It seemed to focus on the color blue while the previous dream focused on red (as in RUBY.)
The content of this dream completely vanished as I was writing the first part of this post.
I also had a dream about two days ago which I told Masha soon after waking. This dream had a funny narrative form and I remember her saying, "Oh your making this up," when I finished. I have no recollection of that dream either.
I read somewhere that one should keep a dream journal by the bed or better yet a tape recorder. The reason given for this was that the "dream" is connected to the neuro-physical state at the time of waking, usually during an interrupted REM state. Any physical motion changes the neuro-chemical condition involved in the formation of the dream, thus erasing it.
This makes some sense as I usually have less trouble writing down a dream after I have told someone. Verbally recounting the dream also tends to give it a narrative quality. I suspect that most dreams are actually "made-up," during the first moments of wakefulness as the dreamer tries to "make sense." of the interrupted REM experience.

Central Casting: The End

Central Casting is officially out for the summer, possibly for good

Although Gloria let us believe that she had worked out details with Caroline Klova, both of them apparently overlooked the "Mondays are Mine," one day workshops which The Arts Center hosts through out the year. Additionally,Sally Bedrosian and Ken Wymsa have considerable anitpathy toward the casting group.

Gloria will still be teaching one of her two sessions in wax carving.

During the other session she will be acting as an entertainment director somewhere in the Carribean.

We had a pretty good run of it but Gloria's wavering commitment and frequent absence jeopardized the whole situation.

Since I feel less than welcome at other open studio sessions, I'm reconsidering the value of my membership.

On another note: If you live in St. Petersburg,Do not under any circumstances buy a computer from Times Systems at 541 49th Street South, 33707. They Call the police when you try to return merchandise. Recently a friend unwisely purchased a pentium two from them. He tried to return it within two hours and was told that the manager was out. Once the store had extracted the money from his debit account, the manager appeared and refused to refund the money. He immediately ordered my friend off the property and called the police. The police could not find anything wrong with the situation and left without taking names. they seemed to agree that it was just a nuisance call on the part of the merchant.
If you have had a simplar problem call the local Better Business Bureau at (727) 535-5522

Quote of the Day

It's a dangerous business going out your front door.
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Look Closer... you may already be dead.

Deeper Throat

Mark Felt is a hero. Period.


I'm not sure that HERO is a good word any more. Sainthood might be overrated as well.
Anyone on for a sandwich?

Torture Q and A

Q: Help! I'm being tortured to death in an American military prison! What should I do?

A: First of all, you should get your facts straight. You're not being tortured to death in an American military prison; you're being interrogated to death in an American detainment facility. America does not tolerate torture."

-- The Medium Lobster at Fafblog.

More Directions --> test this

using Google Maps

From

To

Zip codes and specific adresses work. It should give you the route and all turns along the way.

Central Casting

Well, Central Casting may continue through the summer after all. Jan Wunsch has a Tuesday night class, But apparently the Open Studio that Sally Bedrosian monitors on Mondays, will no longer be meeting...At least for the summer. None of this is official of course.

This past week's class went reasonably. Martin was absent because of a visiting relative, so I still have the bezels which I cast for him last week. Jim Thobe was in, perhaps anticipating that it might be our last session in quite some time. He and Gloria talked Important Teacher Talk through out the class, paying only slight regard to the lowly 'students.' Jim did become a little more interested when he heard mention of the four-figure prices that William has been getting for his work.

Tom Murray stopped by for an 'Experiment.' he brought a styrofoam cup circumscribed with a string of "lalalala," which he hoped to 'explode' by putting it under the vacuum bell. He had a bet going with a friend who had imploded or crushed a similar cup by putting it in a dive chamber. Nothing noticeable happened. Since the vacuum is barely enough to boil water, I'd guess that his theory was sound, he just needed a greater vacuum.

Registration is still open for classes at The Arts Center. Try their website or call (727) 822-7872.

Template Repaired

I re-did part of that generic Blogger template. This link will open it.
Just paste the source into your "template" area.
You may want to ad links of you own, such as a blogroll or site counter.